Oral or written statements submitted to or made before a government body are protected. HAW. REV. STAT. § 634F-2(9) provides for a SLAPPBack. It allows a SLAPP defendant to seek relief in the form of a claim for actual or compensatory damages, as well as punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, from the person responsible.

Hawai'i SLAPP Stories:

A federal judge in Hawaii refused to dismiss a producer’s libel lawsuit against a woman who accused him of rape. However, the judge agreed that the case should be governed by the California anti-SLAPP statute, though the producer’s attorneys had argued that the case should be governed by Hawaii’s anti-SLAPP law.

In 2004, the president of a Hawaiian taxi company and 2004 Hawaii Small Business Person of the Year, Dale Evans, asked state officials to investigate reports of misconduct and possible illegal activities engaged in by another taxi company. Based on her assertion, the Hawaii Attorney General opened an investigation, found some minor wrongdoing and corrected the problems on site.